World Travel Geography and Saint Study

{Feb 27, 2019 A few updates!
Since I first posted I have added a few new book titles and found some mistakes in the original document. The link below has the latest document. Our saint’s pages have not been happening, and that is ok! We are just taking things at G's pace, covering the very basics, and following her interests. It has been a wonderful year so far combining these units. It is really a lot to cover, so don't be discouraged trying to cover everything. Just use it as a framework and do what makes the most sense for your family. We have also *tried* to cover some artists and musicians for our art/music study, based on the places we are "visiting".}


Well Hello! It has been literally 2+ years since I have been able to post anything. I have so many posts started, especially fun Five in a Row ideas I’ve promised to share with some friends, but between a crazy-busy couple of years (grieving the loss of my father and helping my mom through her cancer journey, among other life happenings) and a computer that won’t cooperate, I have been on hold with my blogging. The computer issues have been resolved. Now if only I could squeeze in the time!

For today, I wanted to share a list I created to use with a combo unit for my "G" for this school year. I really enjoy using Catholic Heritage Curricula’s Tour a Country and Explore the Continents units. As crazy as it may be, I have decided to combine them into one unit of study. I will most likely not be able to cover everything in each unit, but it just made sense to me, for many reasons, to combine the 2. Catholic Heritage Curricula has now added a supplemental book called Our Friends from Other Lands, to be used with Tour a Country. It is a spiral bound book which "includes stories and country overviews for 27 countries". I have decided to add these stories in as well.

Explore the Continents

Tour a Country

I have put together all 3 units into one study for the year. We will cover the basics of each country/continent, landmarks, attractions, climate, lifestyle etc, and place an emphasis on saints from each country we study.

I have also added Five in a Row titles to use in tandem, if time allows. I don’t foresee having the time to do traditional FIAR activities, but these fabulous books take you all over the world, so I have coordinated the list to be used as "go-alongs".

We will generally focus on one continent a month. I will use November and December for one continent since both months are so busy. There is enough flexibility with the study ending in April, (along with Australia and Antarctica covering less) that we have the ability to add time on if needed.

Please note: This is meant to be a springboard for your own ideas. Please do not feel you have to cover everything listed and read every book. These are simply ideas which I have organized into one place, and have decided to share in case someone may find it helpful.

I usually will check books out of the library about each continent/country, for example, Spotlight on North America, or Explore South America. As for saints, I am assuming we all have plenty of books or movies to choose from! ;) I don’t study each saint at great length, but read at least some basic info on them, and do further study on a handful. We usually do a small "saint study" by creating a simple scrapbook type of page with key facts, quotes, and pictures.

I use these maps and we place each circle from the student book, pictured above, (saint etc) on the appropriate place.

Here is the link to the document I have created as a plan for the year. See "Notes" section at the end for some helpful information.

I hope you have fun traveling the world with your littles this year!

Blessings,

Jen